List For Writing A Book

pencil-918449_640Since writing Listful Thinking I’ve spoken at several public events and book signings about my writing process. It’s come up at pretty much every event.  I suppose it’s because “write a book” is on so many people’s bucket lists.  People always want to hear my checklist for writing my book.

Well, first of all, you can’t just stick “write book” on your to-do lists along with “buy milk” and “pick up laundry.” That’s a sure way to know your off to a bad start. That’s because “write book” is way too big a feat for just one task on a to-do list.

But imagine you’ve set some time aside in your day and you’re determined to finally get your idea onto paper.

Now what?

Writing a book, like raising a child, is a case by case basis thing. What works for me might not work for you so feel free to adapt these tips based on what works for you. Read more

How to get Inbox Zero by Friday

Social-Media-Post800x800Are your emails haunting you?

With the big, fat “UNREAD” number staring you in the face – how are you supposed to get any work done?

It’s looming in the back of your mind.  

You have to write back to this person or that person.

And then you end up doing nothing and missing deadlines and opportunities.

I understand!  The swamp of the email inbox is maddening.

Wouldn’t it be a miracle to actually get to INBOX ZERO by Friday?

“Yeah, right!” you say in your most sarcastic voice.

“Yeah, right!” I say in my most positive voice.

It can happen and I’ll get you there in just 5 days.  

Join me for my FREE 5-DAY EMAIL CHALLENGE and get Inbox Zero by Friday.

Sign up here.

Here’s what to expect:

Every day I’ll send an email with step-by-step instructions and an audio guide to wrangle your inbox. 

Each day there will be a prompt to help you organize and manage your inbox.  

And by Friday — you’ll have a handle on your inbox so you can stop drowning in unread messages, respond quicker and finally achieve inbox zero.

Let’s do this together!

Talk Lists With Me This Thursday

rp_BEA1-1024x750.jpegI’m excited to share this news with you today.  

One of my favorite things about my book, Listful Thinking being published is it’s given me the chance to meet so many of you!

It’s helped me realize there are so many different ways to apply list making to life — it’s not only about being more productive or organized. Lists can help make you less stressed and happier too.  

I’m having another book Q&A and meet and greet this week! It will be on Thursday, April 7th at 6pm at WeWork on East 42nd Street in Manhattan.  You’ll get a copy of Listful Thinking with your ticket!

It’s being hosted by the New York chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers — NAPO.  My good friend Sandra is a member of the board and will be interviewing me during the event.   We recently went to see Marie Kondo together when she was in NYC.

I will be talking about my inspirations, tips and some of the classic list-making errors at Thursday’s event.

Trust me when you talk about lists all day you hear all the classic mistakes people make. The number one problem is putting everything on the same list!

Over and over I will see a list that goes something like:

  1. Be more confident
  2. Go to Italy
  3. Pick up dry cleaning
  4. Write a book
  5. Email Terri about outline

It might be obvious to some of you that these things don’t belong on the same list, but I see it pretty often.  

Wanting to write a book and pick up your dry cleaning doesn’t belong on the same list.

Just as you can’t lose 10 pounds overnight, you won’t magically become more confident or write a book in the next 24 hours. The truth of this classic list making mistake is that long term plans are scary!

It’s much easier and safer to put this farfetched goal on your daily list and claim you never got round to it, then it is to actually put the planning and effort into achieving something.

Having these good intentions is also a way of procrastinating achieving actual results. Something as simple as having a daily list and a long term goals list separately can help you to shift this mentality.

At my Q&A I’ll go into more details about the different lists you can use for all aspects of your life.  And I’ll talk about outsourcing and my favorite productivity apps too.

I’d love to see you there. Click here to RSVP and get your ticket.

5 List-Making Tricks

81tRJpB37MLLists can be useful to people in lots of different ways. I use lists to help me be more organized and more productive, but that’s not their only purpose. Lists can be an investigation into your ideas or priorities. They can be a way to help you de-stress at the end of the day.

That’s how my friend author Brett Blumenthal uses her lists. She goes into detail about this in her book 52 Small Changes For The Mind.  When you’re feeling overwhelmed by a seemingly endless number of tasks, writing a list can give you a sense of control over the situation.

Here are some of Brett’s top list-making tips from her book, which I urge you to check out:

Keep It Simple – The more complicated you make lists, the less likely you are to follow it. Overstuffing lists causes stress and confusion and may even sabotage your efforts to get things done. Of course it’s important not to go the other way and be to vague about your tasks. For larger issues it’s important to to break it down into smaller tasks. For example ‘lose weight’ isn’t a task, it’s a goal that can be broken down into tasks. As you make progress with each smaller task, you will stay motivated to keep forging ahead to complete your goal. Read more

Talking Lists with MORE Magazine

I love meeting fellow list makers wherever I go.  

Many of the journalists I’ve worked with share my affinity for the list.  Tamsen Fadal — an anchor at WPIX in NYC, where I used to work is one of those list makers!  I even featured her list making abilities here.  

When she reached out to me about sharing some insights about ways to make better lists and be more organized I jumped at the opportunity.

The interview is for her video series on MORE magazine’s website. As a side note — I LOVE MORE magazine and I’m so sorry to hear that it won’t be published anymore.  I thought it was a really quality publication and I will miss it.    

In the video Tamsen and I chat about everything we love about lists, where to write them, how to make them and when to make them!

As Tamsen says, you could write a list of everything!  Here is the video, if you enjoy watching it, check out my YouTube channel.

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